During a brand new interview with Argentina’s Vorterix radio station, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian spoke about his recent comment that, if he could, he would “make all of the Internet go away,” because it would be “much better for the music business.” Asked if he thinks that would really help the music industry get back on its feet, Ian said: “I don’t know. That’s not my job. It’s just my personal opinion.”
He continued: “I choose to live my life as someone who prefers to go outside. I choose to live my life as someone who doesn’t spend every minute of his day staring at my phone or staring at a computer screen. If I’m in a car traveling around a city on tour, I prefer to look out the window than to have my head down, staring at my phone. I prefer to shop in a store rather than shop online. I prefer to go to the movies than sitting and watching something on my laptop. I prefer to read a book than look at a Kindle. This is just my personal opinion.”
Ian went on to say: “If you go to any public place anywhere on the planet now, all you do is see hundreds of people staring at their phones. So it’s not a music-business problem; this is a humanity problem. I think the Internet and technology is just turning us into a very antisocial species where human connection is being lost. People don’t talk to each other anymore; they fucking text. That’s what our world has become. And what’s next? What comes next after texting? ‘Cause I’m sure technology will advance in the next hundred years and there’ll be even less interaction between human beings. So I just find it to be a very scary thing. As a reader of a lot of science-fiction, the planet is a much different place than it was before the Internet. And it’s just the way I choose to live my life. I know other people have the way they choose to live their lives, and I’m not gonna tell anybody else how to live their lives.”
Ian also talked about the important strategy he and his wife, Pearl Aday (daughter of actor/musician Meat Loaf), have sought to implement while raising their four-year-old son, Revel Young Ian, in an age of technology.
“Look, [learning how to use technology effectively and to its fullest potential is] just a necessity in society,” he said. “You can’t shield your children from this, because then they’re gonna grow up, they’re gonna go to school, and they’re gonna try to get a job. And you can’t live in this world and be a functioning adult without learning how to use hip technology at this point. So you can’t shield them from it completely, but you can certainly limit their exposure and limit the experience and make sure that your child is spending his time outside playing with a fucking stick. I mean, that, to me, is more important than him being on a fucking phone looking at pictures of LEGO Iron Man, let’s put it that way.”
He continued: “I would much rather be outside with my son hiking, like we do all the time, or playing soccer… You know, anything. Any time outside, to me, is more important, where he’s learning and he’s using his imagination; he’s not just ingesting crap that’s being fed to him. I think, as parents, it’s our responsibility to make sure our children… just limiting the exposure to that, and making sure they’re able to develop their own imaginations.”
ANTHRAX’s latest album, “For All Kings”, sold 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart.
“For All Kings” is ANTHRAX’s first studio album since 2011’s “Worship Music” (No. 12 peak with 28,000 sold in its first week) and follows the 2013 covers set “Anthems” (No. 52; 8,000 sold in its debut frame).
ANTHRAX’s U.S. tour with LAMB OF GOD came to a close on February 12 in Los Angeles, California.
Source: Blabbermouth
